Staff members from Withernsea High School’s Science department recently visited Patrington Primary Academy where they delivered a number of demonstrations to pupils as part of the primary school’s Science Week.

Organised by Year 3 teacher Sally Marshall, the week aimed to raise the profile of science within the school and involved each class exploring a variety of activities investigations and experiments.

Following an approach from the primary school requesting their involvement, Withernsea’s Senior Science Technician Viki Foster and Biology Teacher Daisy Turner were only too happy to lend their expertise to the week and they set about planning a series of fun, magical and sometimes ‘explosive’ experiments which they delivered to a captivated audience of pupils and teachers in a whole-school assembly.

The purpose of the assembly was to show the pupils that science is part of everyday life and that even the most magical of reactions can be explained by scientific knowledge. The assembly was a great success and was summed up by one young pupil who stated it was ‘the best assembly ever!’

Biology teacher Daisy Turner commented: ‘The science assembly at Patrington Primary was a fantastic morning. It was lovely to see all the children so engaged and fully participating in the activities. I hope our visit has sparked an interest in science for them.’

Later in the week, Mrs Foster and Miss Turner returned to the school to deliver a workshop to Year 3 pupils about the human skeleton and how muscles make it move. Pupils created their own model muscles and were given the challenge to build their own ‘skeleton’ using spaghetti and marshmallows that would be strong enough to support a ‘head’ (a crème egg).

Viki Foster commented: ‘Our aim was to show the students of Patrington that science is not only an interesting and highly sought after qualification but it is also fun and engaging. The students at the primary school were fantastic and I look forward to seeing the budding scientists when they come up to the high school.’

Sally Smith, Executive Headteacher of Patrington Primary Academy, commented: ‘We saw a clear, well-paced and well-explained series of experiments. It was clear to the children that science, along with associated engineering and maths, is fun and that all the amazing things they had seen could be explained by science.’

Reviews

The following comments, from both staff and pupils, were sent to us by Executive Headteacher Sally Smith after the event.

Pupils

'I liked the way the experiments worked, not that they were magic but we found out how they actually worked.'

'It was mind-blowing!'

'Awesome! Wow!'

'Exciting!'

'I liked the way the experiments worked in different ways and they linked with different areas of science.'

'I couldn't believe you could use different chemicals to make such a big reaction!'

'Gobsmacked!'

'Best assembly EVER!'

Staff

'What spectacular experiments, an experience to see how exciting science can be.'

'Really exciting, fun and engaging. The children were mesmerised.'

'Absolutely brilliantly presented. It engaged all levels of interest in the children and went very quickly because they were enjoying it so much. A great double act and a fantastic advert for Withernsea High School! Children actually said after the assembly they were going to WHS!'